2014 Stanley Cup Finals
The 2014 Stanley Cup Finals was the championship series of the NHL's 2013-14 season. Prior to the season, the league had realigned its divisions and changed the structure of the playoffs, but the championship series remained the same. The Western Conference playoff champion Los Angeles Kings defeated the Eastern Conference playoff champion New York Rangers four games to one to win their second championship in franchise history, marking the first time since 2007 that the championship series was determined in less than six games. Los Angeles had home ice advantage in the series, as the Kings finished with a better regular season record than the Rangers. The series started on June 4, 2014 and ended on June 13, 2014 with the Kings winning their second Stanley Cup in three years. It was the first meeting between teams from New York City and Los Angeles for a major professional sports championship since the Yankees and the Dodgers played in the 1981 World Series. The last time the Rangers & the Kings met in the playoffs was in 1981 where New York defeated Los Angeles in the preliminary round of the 1981 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Teams Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings made their third appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals and sought to capture their second Cup championship after winning it in 2012. Much of the core from the Kings' 2012 championship remained on the team. Los Angeles made a late regular season trade on March 5, 2014 acquiring former Ranger Marian Gaborik from the Columbus Blue Jackets in exchange for Matt Frattin and two draft picks. Then, the Kings finished the regular season in third place in the Pacific Division with 100 points. Then, Los Angeles needed three consecutive game sevens to advance to the Cup Finals (breaking the aforementioned Rangers' game sevens record just a couple of days later). The Kings became the first team in NHL history to win three Game 7s on the road in a single postseason. They also became just the fourth team in NHL playoff history to come back from a 3–0 deficit to win a series, defeating the San Jose Sharks in the first round. The Kings eliminated the Anaheim Ducks next and then defeated the defending Stanley Cup champions Chicago Blackhawks in the Western Conference Finals. New York Rangers This was the New York Rangers' eleventh appearance in the Stanley Cup Finals and they were seeking their fifth Cup championship overall and their first one since 1994. The Rangers entered the season after essentially swapping head coaches with the Vancouver Canucks: the Rangers and the Canucks fired John Tortorella and Alain Vigneault respectively, and then coincidentally hired the other's former coach. While Vancouver (under Tortorella's first year) failed to make the playoffs, Vigneault guided New York to 96 regular season points and second place in the new Metropolitan Division. En route, the Rangers made a major trade with the Tampa Bay Lightning on March 5, 2014, acquiring Tampa Bay's captain Martin St. Louis in exchange for their own captain Ryan Callahan. In the first round of the playoffs, the Rangers eliminated the Philadelphia Flyers in seven games. Then, in the second round against the Pittsburgh Penguins, New York overcame a 3–1 game deficit to win the series. In the Eastern Conference Finals, the Rangers defeated the Montreal Canadiens in six games to win their first Eastern Conference championship in twenty years. In the process, the Rangers became the first team ever to play two full seven-game series in the first two rounds of the playoffs and still reach the Stanley Cup Finals. The Rangers were also the first team since the 1972–73 Chicago Black Hawks to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals without a captain. The Series Game One The Kings overcame a two-goal deficit to defeat the Rangers 3–2 in the first game. New York built their 2–0 lead in the first period by scoring 1:42 apart. Benoit Pouliot scored first on a breakaway after stealing the puck from Drew Doughty, then shooting past Jonathan Quick. Carl Hagelin then recorded a short-handed goal, as his shot was initially blocked by Quick but then rebounded off of Slava Voynov's skate into the net. The Kings' comeback began with Kyle Clifford's goal late in the first period. Clifford shot it in from near the left post after receiving a pass from Jeff Carter. Doughty tied the game in the second period, beating Henrik Lundqvist from the left circle. In the third period, the Kings outshot the Rangers, 20–3, but neither Lundqvist nor Quick allowed any goals. In the final minute of regulation, Quick stopped Hagelin's shot on a breakaway and seconds later Lundqvist barely kept Carter's wrap-around shot from crossing the goal line. In overtime, Daniel Girardi turned over the puck in the New York zone, leading Mike Richards to pass the puck to Justin Williams, who then put the puck over Lundqvist to win the game. Game Two The Kings overcame two two-goal deficits to defeat the Rangers 5–4 in double overtime. Including their game seven victory in the Western Conference Finals against the Chicago Blackhawks, Los Angeles became the first team in Stanley Cup Playoffs history to overcome three consecutive two-goal deficits. With the first game also going to overtime, it marked the third consecutive year that the first two games of the Stanley Cup Finals went to overtime. Ryan McDonagh and Mats Zuccarello scored in the first period to give the Rangers a 2–0 lead. Jarret Stoll then cut New York's lead in half at 1:46 of the second period. Then, the teams traded power play goals with Martin St. Louis scoring for the Rangers and Willie Mitchell for the Kings. Eleven seconds after Mitchell's goal, Derick Brassard gave New York a 4–2 lead after miscommunication between Mitchell and Jonathan Quick behind the Kings net lead to a turnover. Dwight King's goal to cut the Rangers' lead to 4–3 early in the third period was controversial. King and McDonagh were fighting for position in front of Henrik Lundqvist when Matt Greene shot the puck from the right point. King made contact with Lundqvist in the crease as he touched the puck before it went into the net but no goaltender interference was called: the referee ruled that the contact occurred after the puck already sailed past Lundqvist. Marian Gaborik then tied the game with an unassisted goal at 7:36 of the third during a scramble in front of the New York net. At 10:26 of double overtime, Dustin Brown deflected Mitchell's shot from the left point into the net to give the Kings the 5–4 win. Game Three Coming into New York, the Kings enjoyed a 2–0 series lead, despite never leading in either game in Los Angeles. The Kings won 3–0, led by the stellar goaltending of Jonathan Quick, who shut out the Rangers on 32 shots. The first period was marked by tight checking, and only nine shots were recorded by the two teams. Mats Zuccarello nearly scored for the Rangers at 12:37 of the first, but his shot went off the post and Quick's stick to stay out. With one second to play, Jeff Carter's shot from the slot deflected off a Rangers defenceman past Henrik Lundqvist to put the Kings ahead by one. In the second period, Jake Muzzin scored from the point on another deflection off a Rangers player. Mike Richards scored later in the period on a two-on-one, his attempted pass deflecting off a Rangers player back to him, leaving Lundqvist out of position to make the stop. Meanwhile, Quick stopped all 17 shots the Rangers put on the net in the second, including a stick save on Derick Brassard when he appeared to be well out of position to make the save. There was no scoring in the third and the Kings took a three games to none series lead, putting the Rangers on the brink of elimination. Game Four The Rangers avoided becoming the first team since 1998 to get swept in the Finals by defeating the Kings 2–1. In a turn-around from game three, the Kings outshot the Rangers and lost as Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist saved 40 out of 41 shots. Like games one and two, the Rangers scored the first two goals, on goals by Benoit Pouliot and Martin St. Louis. Dustin Brown scored for the Kings in the second period to cut the margin to 2–1. In the third period, the Kings put pressure on the Rangers and nearly tied the score when the puck slid past Lundqvist to rest on the goal line before being cleared away. Earlier, in the first period, another shot by the Kings also rested on the goal line and did not go in. In all, the Kings outshot the Rangers 15–1 in the third, but did not score. Game Five The Kings clinched their second Stanley Cup in franchise history, their first since 2012, by defeating the Rangers 3–2 at home ice. This was the first Stanley Cup-clinching game since 2010 to be determined in overtime and the first time that the home team had the overtime Stanley Cup winner since 1980. The Kings played 26 games on their road to the trophy whis more than any other Stanley Cup-winning team. The Kings grabbed the lead in the first period with an even-strength goal by Justin Williams. In the second period, Chris Kreider converted on a Rangers power play before Brian Boyle scored a short-handed goal to put the road team up by one with 30 seconds left. In the third, Marian Gaborik tied the game at 2 on a Kings power play. No more goals were scored in regulation and the game went to overtime. The first overtime period featured one penalty for the Kings, but the Rangers were unable to score on the ensuing power play. With five minutes to go in the second overtime period and the Kings on a 3-on-2 breakaway, Tyler Toffoli fired a shot that was kicked out by Henrik Lundqvist to Alec Martinez who fired it in the wide open net for the game winner. At that time, the Kings had outshot the Rangers 51–30. It was the longest game in Kings history. Series Quotes "Starting back up with it now is Martinez in a 3-on-2. Clifford gave it across. It's held and a shot, save, rebound, SCORE! The Stanley Cup – Martinez!" —Mike Emrick, final call made on the NBC broadcast "Alec Martinez will lead the refs to center. To Kyle Clifford. Toffoli shoots, great save, rebound. They SCORE! Alec Martinez gets the goal! The Los Angeles Kings have won the Stanley Cup!" —Jim Hughson, final call made on the CBC broadcast "Picked up by Martinez. Martinez, to Clifford. Feeds it right side. Toffoli with a shot, save, rebound, SCORE! Alec Martinez has won the Stanley Cup for the Los Angeles Kings! And royalty reigns again in the NHL! The Kings have won their second Stanley Cup in 3 years!" —Nick Nickson, final call made on the KEIB radio broadcast "What an incredible end to an incredible season. Thank you to the players, to the teams, and our fans – all of you! These Kings marched through California, defeated the defending Stanley Cup champ, and beat the Rangers in a spectacular final. It starts at the top with Phil and Nancy Anschutz, Dan Beckerman, Dean Lombardi, Luc Robitaille, and Darryl Sutter and the coaching staff. But it doesn't happen without these great players. For the second time in 3 seasons, it's my honor to present it to Dustin Brown!" —NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman, presenting the Stanley Cup Television This was the last year under the league's current Canadian TV contracts with CBC (English broadcasts of the Finals) and the cable network RDS (French broadcasts). The NHL's twelve-year contract with Rogers Communications would then take effect beginning next season with English-language national coverage of the Finals being sub-licensed to CBC and French-language telecasts being sub-licensed to TVA Sports. In the United States, NBCSN broadcast games three and four while NBC televised the remaining games. NBC Sports originally planned to repeat its coverage pattern from the last few seasons: NBCSN would televise game two and three while NBC would broadcast game one, and then games four to seven. After the league scheduled Game 2 on the day of the 2014 Belmont Stakes, the coverage of games two and four were switched so NBC's telecast of the horse race would serve as lead-in programming to Game 2. Due to the death of a family member, NBC lead play-by-play announcer Mike Emrick missed Game 1. Kenny Albert, who was also the Rangers radio announcer for WEPN and announced several national games (including the Western Conference Finals) for NBC/NBCSN, filled in for Emrick in the first game. Team Rosters Los Angeles Kings New York Rangers Stanley Cup Champions Defenseman *2 Matt Greene (A) *6 Jake Muzzin *8 Drew Doughty *26 Slava Voynov *27 Alec Martinez *33 Willie Mitchell *44 Robyn Regehr Wingers *12 Marian Gaborik *13 Kyle Clifford *14 Justin Williams *23 Dustin Brown © *70 Tanner Pearson *73 Tyler Toffoli *74 Dwight King Centers *10 Mike Richards *11 Anze Kopitar (A) *22 Trevor Lewis *28 Jarret Stoll *71 Jordan Nolan *77 Jeff Carter Goaltenders *31 Martin Jones *32 Jonathan Quick Category:Stanley Cup Finals Category:Los Angeles Kings Category:New York Rangers